Something to keep in mind, something often forgotten by those folks in meetings that are always “no, no, nope” to just about everything. Different personalities

Something to keep in mind, something often forgotten by those folks in meetings that are always “no, no, nope” to just about everything. Different personalities do it for different reasons, sometimes just to show how smart they are for seeing a negative second order consequence. Regardless if why such a person does it though the thing to remember is that a negative second order impact is not at all a show stopper that prevents the initial action. The key to overcoming “no” people is precisely why you want to be a second/third order thinker: understand the negative n-order impacts and have a mitigation plan for them. Nothing stops the “no” person faster than if you can preempt them completely or respond to their objections with “Sure Bob, you make a fantastic point. I’m glad you mentioned that because it allows us to cover a solution I have planned that we can review right now without having to take things offline and delay action on this.” I’m sure some HN’ers may abhor the need for that sort of soft politicking and personality management but a diplomatic approach along these lines let’s both you and the “no” person keep face with less risk for confrontational dialogue, especially because Bob can be seen as a useful contributor as well. (And yep, confrontation isn’t inherently a bad thing to be avoided at all costs, but the consequences of it are complicated and not always predictable. If Bob objects further without good cause, sure, roll out the pointed questions and firm requests for concrete reasoning.)